Krasnaya Polyana , Russia -- Shaun White jammed his wrist on one jump and watched the world's best snowboarders join him in tumbling down the supersized, super-scary Olympic slopestyle course.

His choice became clear: Step away from the danger, and give himself a better chance in the event he knows he can win.

The world's most famous snowboarder pulled out of the new Olympic event Wednesday, saying that he has decided to bypass a chance at winning two gold medals at these Games and instead concentrate on the halfpipe, in which he'll have a chance to win his third straight title next week.

"The potential risk of injury is a bit too much for me to gamble my other Olympics goals on," White said in a statement.

White's decision was a stunner that dealt yet another blow to the still-to-start Sochi Games, which have been racked by security threats and political dust-ups.

White's departure from an event that was essentially introduced at the Olympics this year to take advantage of his star power certainly can't make the folks at the IOC or NBC too happy.

"He probably would have brought more viewers to slopestyle," said Nick Goepper, an American who competes in the skiing version of the event.

Slopestyle qualifying starts Thursday, the day before the Opening Ceremony.

Snowboarding's newest and most-hyped Olympic event is a judged sport: a speed-packed trip down the mountain, filled with rails, bumps and, most notably, steeply angled jumps that allow riders to flip two, sometimes three times, before landing. White hurt his wrist on one of the takeoff ramps, which were "kind of obnoxiously tall," said one top rider, Canadian Mark McMorris.

White, who already had hurt his shoulder and ankle in the lead-up to the Olympics, deemed his latest injury - the jammed wrist - as nothing serious. He did say there remained serious issues with the slopestyle course.

"There are concerns about the course," he said. "Every day, they have riders' meetings and they give feedback. Sometimes there's changes, sometimes there's not."

Out of slopestyle, White will focus on Tuesday's contest in the halfpipe, a hollowed-out ice shell with 22-foot sidewalls. There is danger, but unlike slopestyle, it's based mostly on the head-over-heels tricks and not the setup.